I'm a seasoned blogger who writes about Judaism, religion, ethnicity, race and the intersection of it all on my blog, www.blackgayjewish.com. The V-Word is about food. Healty food, kosher food, tasty food, forbidden food...with a veggie twist, maybe.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Introductions and Background Info.

Over the weekend I watched the movie Forks over Knives on Netflix. It's been in our que for months and for some reason we decided to watch it. I poured myself another glass of prosecco and snuggled into the couch for what I assumed would be an inspirational movie that would make me think about the welfare of animals and how what we eat effects the world on a global-scale and then happily make a few adjustments to my eating plan that are more in line with a local, sustainable, animal-friendly way of eating. Like Food Inc. did. Instead it made me want to make a radical change to my life.

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I come from a fairly large family, but unfortunately most of them are dead: my uncles, grandparents and great aunts and distant cousins. My father is one of five, three of his brothers have passed away. My surviving uncle has prostate cancer and my father just had major surgery in late 2011. My maternal grandmother died before I was born of colon cancer, my paternal grandmother had diabetes, my paternal grandfather had some heart issues. My favorite uncle was thought to be the healthiest of them all, but died of a fatal heart attack after a run with his wife. My other favorite uncle had heart problems and died from cancer. There is diabetes, heart disease, and cancer on both sides of my family. Both of my parents have high blood pressure and the last time I had a physical, 6 years and 20 pounds ago, I had high cholesterol-at 26 years old! Despite these terrible genetic odds and my waning physical activity and increased appetite for yummy food I didn't think anything of it. No way a 26-year old woman could have a heart attack, right?

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When I was young I was skinny. I hung out around the size 0 mark until the Freshman Fifteen when I went up to a 4 and hovered there until I was 22. Then I shot up to a 14 in about a year and now waiver somewhere between a 10 and a 12. As I look at my frame in the mirror, the girly side with a past of semi-disordered eating and a complicated relationship with food sees a fat ugly person. The intellectual side with a family history that kills us young sees the ability to change not just the size on the waistband of my jeans, but my health.

So, here we are. The V-Word is named as such because I don't like labels-I tend to not fit into them perfectly. The idea of taking out all meat products, dairy and eggs included (becoming a Vegan) seems a bit harsh and too much to do all at one time. Instead, I plan to keep this online journey of my process with the hope of being transparent, honest, open, and healthfully critical of what I put into my body, my daily activity (and inactivity) with the hopes of walking into a doctor's office (when I have insurance) and getting a physical that reports a healthy 32 year-old.

I love to cook and finding ways to do that in a healthy way will be a fun challenge. The V-Spot will be part diary, part recipe sharing, part story-telling, part exercise log, part sanity relief. One thing I know is that it will not be a diet, it's part of a bigger change to my life and lifestyle so that when the time comes having children, Be'ezrat HaShem, it will be easy. It's not about looking to the past to lament my old frame, my old size, my slim-figure, it's about looking to a healthier future.

2 comments:

I've never watched that particular film because I don't think animal protein and fat are bad for us. I gave up all meat aside from chicken for ethical reasons, not health. If I didn't need to eat low carb I'd give up chicken too which I still may do one of these days. I currently eat it 2-3 times per month. I eat fish until it's coming out of my nose so I'll probably never be a vegetarian.

I'd say I eat a lot of butter, olive oil and sometimes coconut oil. I've lost 27lbs this way and I'm still working on it. Since I don't really do the meat thing I'm always looking for good vegetable recipes. Maybe you'll post something I can try! :-)

I accidentally weighed myself yesterday and it was, without a doubt, the scariest moment of my life (in recent history). I'm not doing this to lose weight, per se, nor because I think that eating meat is bad (because I don't) but the science behind Forks Over Knives is really compelling.

When I re-introduce meat back into my diet, I'll probabaly still continue to omit dairy products unless it's a special occasion. I agree that I don't think animal protein is bad for us, but eating a diet rich in vegetable proteins is defintely better for us :) We'll see.

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About Me

Thanks for visiting my site! My name is Erika and I'm a full-spectrum, holistic doula living, working and loving in Brooklyn, NY.
When I'm not doula-ing, I'm making homemade products for Mamas and babes in my kitchen, knitting or doing yoga.
I'm a Jewish diversity advocate and have written and spoken at a variety of publications and events. I also maintain a personal blog about being a black, gay Jew.